From: Peter Dimov (pdimov_at_[hidden])
Date: 2005-11-26 14:21:19
Merrill Cornish wrote:
> With an ordinary C++ pointer, if I have a BaseClass and a
> DerivedClass derived from BaseClass, then I can do
>
> BaseClass* objectPtr;
> objectPtr = new DerivedClass();
>
> Later, if BaseClass has a virtual destructor, I can call
> delete(objectPtr) and the DerivedClass destructor will be called.
>
> Now, does this work with shared_ptr?
>
> shared_ptr<BaseClass> objectPtr;
> objectPtr = shared_ptr<DerivedClass>(new DerivedClass());
Yes, it does. It will work even without a virtual destructor.
> and later, delete(objectPtr).
This doesn't work.
> Does any of the magic going on behind the scenes prevent shared_ptrs
> from being used like this?
Of course not. :-)